FARMERS’ PERCEPTION AND ADAPTATION STRATEGIES REGARDING CLIMATE VARIABILITY: IN THE CASE OF FOUR RURAL KEBELES OF DIRE DAWA ADMINISTRATION, ETHIOPIA.

Abstract

This study initiated as the result of impacts of climate variability which has been affecting the livelihoods of DDA rural community due to weakening of indigenous coping and adapting mechanisms used by community for many years. The study was conducted in four selected rural kebeles of Dire Dawa Administration based on farm-level data collected from 231 households. The objective of the study was to assess the perception of farmers towards climate change; identified local innovations for climate change adaptation; and assessed the barriers and determinants of climate change adaptation options at the farm level. Results confirm that the most of the interviewed farmers perceived the changes in temperature and rainfall; the majority believed that temperature has increased and the rainfall pattern has been altered over the past years; But overall, a greater percentage knew the changes currently occur and there was some divergence between the perception in precipitation of farmers and climatic data records. As evidence to perceived changes, more than half of the respondents took remedial actions to counteract the impacts of climate change. Among fifteen explanatory variables involved in the analysis, the result of the multinomial logit model highlighted climate information, credit or saving services, farming experience, education level, size of productive labor, wealth, farm size, off-farm activity, Lack of agricultural technologies and inputs, Land scarcity, and Water scarcity significantly discouraging ones. The Government could contribute to mitigating climate change effects on agriculture by establishing local Meteorology stations, monitoring and publishing climate data, establishing credit or saving services, expanding education, investing in research, soil conservation measures, technology, animal health centers, and irrigation and water harvesting development, expanding fertilizer use, expanding market, reforming land policy and enforcing the implementation of rural land use policies, , and creating job opportunities by expanding non-agriculture sectors.